In the run-up to Apple’s Sept. 10 iPhone presentation there was the typical heavy dose of buzz. But outside the usual murmurs about the interesting new technological tweaks for the latest and greatest model, there were also less typical rumours. The word was Apple would coming out with a second new model that was more affordable. This low-cost iPhone was to be plastic and colourful at a lower price than the mainline version of the phone.

That pre-release chatter was all more or less true. The new iPhone is more affordable than its brother, the 5S (by $120 in Canada). It’s plastic and colourful (Nokia took the opportunity to suggest a ripoff, apparently forgetting Apple’s history of multicoloured devices).

Apple’s imitating Nokia?

Nevertheless, the 5C falls short of expectations in a couple of ways:

From a business perspective, many analysts expected the phone that emerged as the 5C to be a low-cost device that would act as a gateway to emerging markets. The cost is low — in relation to the high-end 5S — but at $599 without a contract it’s likely not low enough to really fulfil that expectation. Apple’s share price tumbled on Wednesday as investors were unthrilled with the 5C’s cost.

From a technology perspective, the new phone offers nothing new in terms of value. Functionally equivalent to the iPhone 5 but with a couple of minor improvements, the 5C inhabits the exact same price point the iPhone 5 would have, based on Apple’s previous iPhone launches. When the 5 released, the iPhone 4S — which had up to that point been Apple’s high-end handset — dropped to the same $599. In other words, it’s standard Apple practice, only this time the optics are different because the 5C has a different shell. (“But she’s got a new hat!”)

I should be clear here that there’s nothing wrong with the iPhone 5C and none of this is on Apple — only the speculators. It’s more than enough for the average user and it’ll be neat to see people whisking more colourful devices out of their pockets in place of boring old black phones (said the boring old black phone user). It’ll sell gangbusters, but the game changer it was rumoured to be? It’s not.

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